Laurel
by NeutralGuise
Summary: Jack can't bring himself to say anything, so he'll express himself more obliquely.


**Note:** I needed some Predaking/Jack fluff for reasons that have absolutely nothing (and by nothing, I mean everything) to do with Shade Penn's _Come and Get It_ 'verse. I couldn't find any, so I wrote this short little thing.

* * *

Predaking looked askance at the proffered object, "No."

"Please?" Jack smiled winningly, "Just for now?"

"No."

"Oh, come on, do you have any idea how long it took me to make this?"

"I've been here with you the whole time, remember?"

"Then you know how much effort I put into this, and you won't even try it once?" Jack adopted a wounded expression, "Look, I've got one on too, and it's not like I'm asking you to go anywhere with it on. I won't even take any photos, see?"

Predaking watched Jack toss his phone away as proof of his sincerity, then considered the human. He looked ridiculous, all but swimming in the laurel he'd spent the morning and a good portion of the afternoon making. The pair had come to this meadow on Jack's insistence this morning. They had passed the time talking while Jack wove flowers together, venturing out of Predaking's shadow occasionally to gather more blossoms. Predaking probably should have seen this moment coming when Jack had placed his own flower crown of daisies, chrysanthemums, irises, and, oddly enough, fronds from a fern on his head and proceeded to gather even more flowers for his increasingly large project.

"Fine," he relented and carefully took the laurel from Jack. He examined it briefly; it had a much wider variety of plants than Jack's crown. He wove it through the crown-like protrusions on his helm, "Are you satisfied?"

Jack looked up at him. For a moment, something strange and wistful crossed his face before it disappeared and he grinned, "Very."

The two continued their conversation for a while before they parted ways. Jack returned to his house and the Predaking made his way to the base.

When Predaking arrived at the base he found Miko working on her laptop. She did a double take when she saw him.

"What is that on your head?"

He'd forgotten to remove the flower crown. He reached up and lifted it off his horns, replying as he did so, "Jack made it."

"Lemme see," Miko started making grabby hands at it.

"Why?" Predaking asked even as he handed it over.

"I want to see what he said," Miko answered, peering through to identify the different types of flowers used. "He probably didn't mean to say anything, but I like to look at bouquets and arrangements to see what they say even if it is usually is just a jumbled mess. Probably because the arrangers here use a different language, but still..."

"What?"

"My parents made me learn hanakotoba when I was younger. It's actually pretty cool. Like I said, it's interesting."

"Hanakotoba?"

"Japanese flower language. See, these flowers mean faith, and these flowers mean honesty, and so on." She pointed out the daisies and violets as she spoke. "If Jack meant anything at all, he would have used the Victorian flower language, though."

Predaking considered this and looked at the laurel more closely, he identified daisies and ferns, like Jack's crown and violets of various colors, zephyrs, carnations, and, he was amused to note, snapdragons. His processor stalled for a moment once he matched meanings to the plants. Surely Jack hadn't meant? He considered the matter more closely, the thought of being in a relationship with the human wasn't repulsive. He already considered the human a close friend. Maybe...

"Hey! Are you paying attention?"

"No," Predaking said simply as he turned and walked away.

"Whatever," Miko turned back to the her laptop.

Predaking moved further into the base, looking up florists in the area as he went. He wanted to send Jack an arrangement with rose leaves and ambrosia soon.

* * *

 **Note:** I have no idea when or where this is set. Peaceful AU? Post movie? Could be either. Flower meanings were a pain to track down. Different sites give different answers, so here's a quick guide to the plants used in this fic. (These plants probably aren't generally found together in nature, but for the purposes of this fic, Jack planted them in advance.)

Daisy: Innocence, loyal love

Chrysanthemum: Optimism

Iris: Hope

Fern: Sincerity

Violet: Affection

Blue violet: Faithfulness, love

White violet: Let's take a chance on happiness

Zephyr: Sincerity, symbol of love

Red carnation: Admiration

Snapdragon: Strength

Rose Leaf: You may hope

Ambrosia: Your love is returned


End file.
